The NCSE Exposed: Clunky Attack on "Expelled" Reveals More Than Intended

[Note: For a more comprehensive defense of Ben Stein's documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, please see: NCSE Exposed at NCSEExposed.org]

The National Center for Science Education has just unveiled its expanded website denouncing the upcoming movie "Expelled," but the website's clunky attacks merely provide confirmation that the film's essential thesis is correct: Darwinists really don't believe in academic freedom regarding evolution, and they're more than willing to smear any scientist who disagrees with them.

The basic thrust of the NCSE's website seems to be the preposterous claim that pro-ID scientists never, ever face harassment, intimidation, or persecution. Not ever! Scientists who claim otherwise--such as biologist Richard Sternberg, astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez, and Baylor University engineering professor Robert Marks--must be cry-babies or worse.

The NCSE's approach is otherwise known as "blaming the victim."

Given that the NCSE is part of the very evolution lobby that is seeking to suppress intelligent design, its effort to further malign the victims of Darwinist intolerance is rather tacky. But tackiness doesn't stop the NCSE from trying to depict its director Eugenie Scott as a veritable Mother Teresa, selectively quoting from her emails to make it appear that she was trying to protect evolutionary biologist Richard Sternberg from persecution at the Smithsonian! Yeah, right. This is the same person who circulated "talking points" to Smithsonian officials to guide them in their campaign against Sternberg. This also is the same person who was asked to spy on Sternberg's outside activities by a Smithsonian official in order to find a way to get rid of Sternberg. And this is the same caring person who when asked about Sternberg's plight by The Washington Post, seemed to suggest that Sternberg was lucky more wasn't done to get rid of him: "If this was a corporation, and an employee did something that really embarrassed the administration, really blew it, how long do you think that person would be employed?" Fortunately, if you want to find out what really happened to Sternberg at the Smithsonian, you don't have to depend on the NCSE's highly selective rendition of the facts. You can read for yourself the results of two separate federal investigations into the matter, here and here.

The NCSE similarly does its best to cover up the facts about what happened to Baylor University engineering professor Robert Marks, making it appear that the only consequence he faced was the loss of a research website. The NCSE neglects to mention Baylor also forced Marks to return a grant he had received for intelligent design-related research (after the university had duly accepted the grant). The return of the grant meant that Marks was deprived of funding for a post-doc position for pro-ID mathematician William Dembski. The NCSE also neglects to mention that university officials pressured Marks to stop pursuing his intelligent design-inspired research. For more details, see here.